Divinycell HCP goes diving - with sharks

Extremely durable and able to withstand great depths, the Divinycell HCP is used by renowned film-maker and shark expert Joe Romeiro.

Naturalist and award-winning cinematographer Joe Romeiro has always loved the ocean and got interested in sharks at a very early age. He has produced a number of award-winning films that have aired on Discovery Networks, Discovery International, National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, BBC Wildlife, Animal Planet, among others. Himself a respected naturalist, Romeiro has worked with many of the top scientists and researchers within the field of shark research and behavior. He has spent over a decade filming and interacting with sharks all over the world.

Discovery Channel’s much anticipated Shark Week 2016 opened in late June with the documentary “Tiger Beach”. A team, led by Dr. Neil Hammerschlag from the University of Miami, had invited Romeiro to participate in a research project where a shark was tagged with a fin-cam to track the behavior of many species of sharks in deep water. “I used the Divinycell HCP on the component that carried a wildlife computer tag. The tag could track its movement via GPS once released off the shark by a magnesium trigger. It was the only way to recover the footage that we had compiled on the many successful deployments”, says Romeiro.

Romeiro was satisfied with the data he managed to collect. “Today, when it is possible to make the technology in cameras and underwater housings much smaller we can do more and different kind of research, such as multiple angles. The cameras faced forward and backward from the dorsal fin to see what the sharks were interacting with and also what was interacting with them. The tail beat gave us ideas on speed bursts and the reasons behind them.”

Used in subsea applications from sea level to 700 meters depth, Divinycell HCP has a long and excellent track record. The low-density cross linked polymer foam successfully meets the demands for high performance in subsea applications. HCP stands for Hydraulic Crush Point and the number defines the maximum hydraulic pressure the material can withstand. It has very low buoyancy loss and water absorption under long-term loading conditions due to its excellent hydraulic compressive properties and closed cell structure. It can be shaped into almost any design and is widely used in ROVs, flotation units, diving bells and marine impact-protection structures at depths down to 700 meters.

“The HCP is something that I plan on using more in the future”, says Romeiro. “It can withstand the depths and it is strong enough to be literally run over by a car and still float. It has to withstand great pressures at great depths and still ‘bring them back alive’, as we put it. It is a great product with a lot of potential for underwater exploration. I was introduced to it on submarines and Deep Rov and Auv units so for these applications it has been tested and proven reliable.” To find out more, visit Discovery Channel Shark Week 2016 “Tiger Beach”, or check out Joe Romeiro’s homepage www.joeromeiro.com.

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